Hi all, long-time lurker first time poster. I am about to take the plunge and buy my first desktop in close to 10 years! I can’t wait. My current machine has been good to me but it’s time to face facts and start over. I have built machines at work, and my current machine has been fiddled w\ and upgraded so much that pretty much only the board and the case are left so I am comfortable putting a machine together. This will be, however, my first time starting from scratch and the first time w\ liquid cooled parts so I was wondering if I could get some advice and maybe some guidance if I have compatibility issues. Thanks in advance for looking. I am looking for any nods of approval, disapproval, words of wisdom or just any input you guys might have.
First, the case and power supply. I am up in the air about this. I’m not sure I want to have to do a whole lot of “modding” out of the gate. I am open to external radiation, but I would prefer internal. Here are my options, but I am not heart-set on any of them:
Next, the motherboard. Currently my front-runner is the ASUS P5K PRO LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard for $105
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131275
This isn’t top of the line, but it seems to be a solid bang-for-the-buck board.
2 PCIe slots so I could sli it if I wanted and seems pretty future-proof
The CPU. I am very up in the air on this.
Next is the video card. Here are my front-runners:
Finally, I have picked the following for DVD, HD and Ram:Now, the cooling – the whole reason we’re here:
D-TEK FuZion v2 Universal CPU Waterblock - 1/2"
Swiftech MCRES-MICRO Hi-Flo Reservoir
The pa160 radiator
And I haven’t decided on the pump, or the clamps, tubes etc.
I would also like to watercool my video card so I would need to decide there as well. A decision that might impact whether or not I go the sli route as well…
I am not really sure why to buy all of this stuff - it seems like I can get most of it from www.petrastechshop.com but I am open to suggestions here as well.
Basically, I am not a hard-core gamer, but I would like to be able to play the occasional game and have it look nice. I would like to buy crisis, and I own TF2\halflife etc.
My son plays WOW which will run on pretty much anything, but again – it would be nice to have it look nice. My number one concern, after performance of course, is future-proofing this machine as much as possible. I pride myself on making a wise purchase w\ my last machine which is why it has lasted with me so long and this is something that I would like to repeat!
Future-proofing in my opinion starts w\ the motherboard, then the case and to some extent the chip. I know DDR3 is on the rise, but there is no way I can justify the cost right now. Are those ddr3 boards backwords compatable w\ ddr2 ram?
Anyway, I know this is an extremely long post, but I like to think I’ve done my research so that I’m not just another “what should I buy” post… thanks for looking!
Brian
Bookmarks